MPO Needs Your Input

Our Local MPO is asking for Input on proposals for bicycle and pedestrian facilities across the region.  They Are....

Hillcrest/Babcock Intersection Improvements: $1,000,000
Converse Greenway Trail:  $1,382,725
Ackerman Sidewalks and Bike Lanes: $1,742,763
New Braunfels Citywide Pedestrian Connectivity: $1,516,711
Zarzamora Pedestrian Improvements:  $5,000,000
Schertz Pedestrian Routes & Bike Lanes: $1,158,266
Seguin, Walnut Springs Trail Extension Project: $2,801,246
Alazan Creek Linear Hike and Bike Trail: $6,000,000
Martinez Creek Linear Hike and Bike Trail: $3,125,000

If you add all the amounts together, you get $23,726,671.  Unfortunately, there's only $15,000,000 available for projects. The Alamo Area MPO wants you to rank these projects as to which ones are the top 3 (click here) and here are those projects and the reason why I put them in the priority.

5. Martinez Creek Linear Hike and Bike Trail:
    Cost:  $3,125,000
    Project Description:  Consists of 1.4 miles of 10 foot wide shared hike and bike trail along
    Martinez Creek beginning at Cincinnati Avenue and extending to Mario Farias Park.

 As a person who uses the linear Creekway for commuting and a person who violates the law that states such trails can't be used after dark, I am for the expansion of such trails.  These trails will only help the police go underneath and chase away the homeless that sleep underneath these bridges.  It

4.  Converse Greenway Trail:
     Cost:  $1,382,725
     Project Description:  Construct 1.2 miles of 10' wide concrete linear greenway trail between
     Converse North Park and Converse City Park.

If this trail is ever completed, it will serve a basic need of being able to connect two places. It will provide residence who don't own a car an alternative across Gibbs-Sprawl Rd (an aptly named rd by the way).  I don't know if Converse will ever allow this trail to be used after dark, but it would be really cool if they did.

3. Schertz Pedestrian Routes & Bike Lanes:
    Cost: $1,158,266
    Project Description:  Construct 10’ shared-used path. Construct 6’ sidewalks, including curbs, curb ramps, and drainage. Stripe 6-8’ bike lanes along two connector streets. 6.97 miles total.

When I wrote my post, Where 2 Live in SA W/O a CAR, I wrote it with the personal experience of not owning a car.  I'm always asked if other areas of Bexar County could be an area to live with out a car and my answer is only if there's proper infrastructure is available to be able to walk or to bike.  Schertz is such an area not only lacking basic pedestrian infrastructure, but VIA bus services.  I can attest with personal experience that the reason why VIA is so loathed even though they do a lot of things right is because many areas of San Antonio lack basic pedestrian infrastructure.  People would rather wait for a bus to go around a block than to walk there all together.  Having Schertz improve sidewalks and add bicycle lanes will help provide the residence with alternatives to go to the grocery story and compete with more walkable areas of San Antonio.  But take my advice Scherts, putting in protected bicycle lanes will help with the traffic problem way better than any painted bicycle lanes. 

2. New Braunfels Citywide Pedestrian Connectivity:
    Cost: $1,516,711
    Project Description:  Construct sidewalks, ramps, and other pedestrian-related infrastructure in the
    Seele Elementary School area and on key segments of San Antonio Street, Walnut Avenue, and
    McQueeney Road (2.2 total miles).

As a member of Strong Towns, I understand that improving sidewalks is the best investment that any municipality can make to receive the biggest return.  If you ever been to New Braunfels, you would know the community is lacking sidewalks. They could use some sidewalks. 

1. Zarzamora Pedestrian Improvements
    Cost: $5,000,000
    Project Description:  Install missing sidewalks, repair existing sidewalks, remove unnecessary
    utility poles, install pedestrian crossing infrastructure, implement ITS strategies, and perform road
    diets along Zarzamora Road and SW Military Drive (4.5 miles).

Out of all the the projects posted, this is the one that is number one on my list.  The project stretches from Fredricksburg Rd all the way to SW Military Dr.  It is a 4 lane corridor of speeding cars, impassable sidewalks on the west side.  It's also where VIA wants to put its next Primo route for the 520 is the second busiest route in the city. It is also no coincidence that the Diabetes Institue is located at 701 S Zarzamora St.  Offering alternatives to driving and to people who are using wheelchairs to get around would help the west side out greatly. 

Total Cost for all 5 projects:  $12,182,702

Now some of you are probably asking me, why didn't you include Alazan Creek Linear Hike and Bike Trail or Hillcrest/Babcock Intersection Improvements.  Well the reason why I didn't list them is because our MPO now includes New Braunfels, Seguin and Beorne, so when deciding the priorities on this list, I thought of those places too.  If It was being San Antonio centrist, I would have made Zarzamore, Alazan and Martinez the top of this list.  Also the other reason why I left out the project in Seguin is because I don't know enough about the project at all to give my two cents.

Remember, all comments are due February 28, 2017.

SA Doesn't Make The List/There will be no Bike Lane on Broadway.

Every two years, Bicycling Magazine releases their list of the 50 Best Bicycle Cities in the United States of America, and guess what, we're not on this list.  I can't say that I'm surprised at all because back in 2014 I predicted that San Antonio wouldn't make the list and Austin would be on the top 10 of that list. Well Austin is at number 7 in 2016. Back in 2014, it was at number 11.

Gone are the days that to get on this list, all you had to do was build a bunch of hike and bike trails. Today, there's hike and bike trails galore stretching hundreds of miles. If you ever get the chance to visit a small town in Iowa, you are very likely to come across one. In southwest Ohio, there are several trails stretching from Cincinnati to to just north of Dayton, even to Columbus. Every city/town in the United States is basically copying Austin, Texas to improve their community.

A friend of mine ask me to ask you to help him get a list of bicycle friendly businesses so they could be asked to contact The League of America Bicyclists. If you know of any business that would like to be listed as a bicycle friendly business, please have them visit http://bikeleague.org/business.

Now if you ever read "Why San Antonio Don't Deserve Bronze," you would know how I feel about the League's grading system. Although having more bicycle friendly businesses would help to expand San Antonio standing, it will not be enough to make San Antonio make the list in 2018. If San Antonio is to be back on the Bicycling Magazine bicycle friendly list, we are going to have to build protected bicycle lanes. If this recent Rivard Report story on the Broadway is any indication, we'll never be on this list ever again.

60.1

In the report from The Rivard Report, "Renderings of a Reimagined Broadway," they show several concept visions of Broadway that will be built if the Bond is passed in May. Except for one cross section referred to as Upper Broadway Cultural Corridor, Tuleta to Allenswoth, (Image 60.2) all the cross sections lack even a simple bicycle lane.  Compare them to my cross sections that I did back in 2014, (Image 60.1) and you would see that I found plenty of space for a 6 ft protected bicycle lanes on both sides of Broadway including on street car parking/bus stop island.

60.2

Below, you'll find the cross sections that were featured on the Rivard Report story with my cross sections right below them. In Each and everyone of them, I show how there's plenty of room to put a two way protected bicycle lane. I'll be going in order, from north to south.

Starting at Hildebrand, we have a 100 feet to work with.  In the proposed rendering, you see a bicycle lane at either end.  Well this doesn't have to be for there's plenty of room not for just a two way protected bicycle lane, but also for on street parking. (Image 60.3)

60.3

The next one is from Allensworth to Tulet. Even though they have a 10ft protected bicycle lane, it is recommend by NACTO that bicycle lanes are at least 6ft wide.  I decided to add on street parking,  because there's plenty of room for that too.  And keeping with having trees in the turn lane, I did that too. (Image 60.4)

60.4

I don't know why they couldn't even add the protected bicycle lane that they started from Allensworth down to Josephine.  There's plenty of room for that too. (Image 60.5)

60.5

Any proposals that are made south of Josephine must be able to incorporate the yearly Battle of Flowers Parade.  In their proposal, there's no bicycle lanes.  But if we remove the center turn lane, we will gain the room to put in either bicycle lanes or a protected bicycle lanes with removable planters or barriers. Knowing the City of San Antonio, they won't do this. (Image 60.6)

60.6

As We go further south, again we see no proposed bicycle lane, nor on street parking, the reason why this part of Broadway had it's bicycle lane removed back in 2010.  Again this is where the Battle of Flowers parade goes down and taking that into account, we can have the protected bicycle lane with the removable barrier and what the businesses want, on street parking. (Image 60.7)

60.7

Even From Houston To 3rd, there's plenty of room for both parking on both sides of the street and a two way protected bicycle lane.  (Image 60.8)

60.8

If these illustrations that were featured on the Rivard Report tells me anything, it tells me that the City is not serious about Vision Zero,(#VisionZero) but are for making sure that driving a car as enjoyable as possible.

 The 73-page report by California-based design firm MIG and Parsons Brinckerhoff of Canada at http://therivardreport.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Final_Broadway_Corridor_Plan_web.compressed.pdf


Images:
60.1: My cross section featured in my Story, Streetcar Part III, No Need for Streetcars Down Broadway. Source for cross section:  https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0pdZd2edg57C1cNWNzHpY3ynffhx_I3Xmw2glW4QkM5_fsSjV_SukwOjoFX3MknRwyFvOntfIjqKxE4qcVef8ICKRaBCJCTP8DS7P2imiM5LSAVnpAZ1ffwXUzm70j-fdnuXJKeQBl2Q/s1600/Midtown+Broadway+Ideally+Bus+Stop+West.jpeg

60.2: Source of image https://therivardreport.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/upperbroadway-road-diet.jpg

60.3: Source of the top: https://therivardreport.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/upper-broadway-to-hildebrand.jpg, Source for the bottom: http://streetmix.net/BikeSanAntonio/63/allensworth-to-hildebrand-wparking

60.4: Source of the top: https://therivardreport.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/upperbroadway-road-diet.jpg  Source for Bottom: http://streetmix.net/BikeSanAntonio/71/allensworth-to-tuleta-wparking

60.5: Source for top: https://therivardreport.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/upper-broadway-road-diet-josephine.jpg   Source for Bottom: http://streetmix.net/BikeSanAntonio/72/josephine-to-tuleta-wparking 

60.6: Source for top: https://therivardreport.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/lower-broadway-josephine.jpg  Source for bottom: http://streetmix.net/BikeSanAntonio/72/josephine-to-tuleta-wparking

60.7: Source for top: https://therivardreport.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/lower-broadway-3rd-road-diet.jpg
Source for bottom:  http://streetmix.net/BikeSanAntonio/61/3rd-to-i-35

60.8: Source for top:  https://therivardreport.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/lower-broadway-road-diet_centro-MIG.jpg  Source for bottom:  http://streetmix.net/BikeSanAntonio/70/houston-to-3rd 

What The Source Failed to Mention.

On January 4, 2017, TPR The Source had a show called,  "Is San Antonio 'Stuck Behind The Wheel'?".

They had 3 guest....

• Ray Lopez - City Councilman - District 6 and chair of the Alamo Area Metropolitan Planning Organization's Transportation Policy Board
• Jeff Arndt - President/CEO of VIA Metropolitan Transit .
• Linda Alvarado-Vela - Planning and Public Involvement Manager for the Alamo Area Metropolitan Planning Organization

They also had two reporters as well

Through out the entire show, they mentioned some solutions like managed lanes, passenger trains and car pooling, everything else other than bicycling and walking. Below are my impressions of some of the guest and what they talked about....

Ray Lopez
It's funny how they had a guy on who voted against the multimodal system he so championed. I remember meeting him for the first time at this event at the Pearl I think back in 2012.  He described rail as part of this 'multimodal system.' He described it as people would get in their cars and drive to the train station and hop on the light rail, then they'll take a bus or a rubber tire trolley to their final destination.  What I heard was, "you get in to your car, then you park, then you get into this bigger car to transfer to this ugly car to your final destination.' I doubt that his ideal would come to fruition because even he refuses to take the bus to pick up his kid from school because he would have to wait for an hour for the next bus.  Doubt that others are willing to do the same even with a train.

Comparing Dallas to San Antonio
The one thing that got on my nerves is that these people couldn't stop comparing what they have in Dallas, to what can be accomplished here in San Antonio.  That's because DART put it's light rail down old railroad right of ways.  Houston is a better example of what will happen if they ever put in light rail which is right down the middle of the street.  The thing about Houston is that they have these wide streets which I refer to as stroads (see video) to be able to put down these rails without really impacting vehicle lanes.

Another thing that they didn't talk about is that the light rail in Dallas really fails to get people out of their cars.  What it does do, it keeps people who can't afford cars from needing to buy a car. When I rode the DART system two years ago, the people I met and talked to seem to have money. That if they lived in San Antonio, they would break down and buy a car. But because the DART system works like a 'glove', they don't really feel the need to buy one.  If you want to know why people aren't using the rail in the DFW area, I ask you to go back and read Doing Commuter Rail Right Part I.  Apparently even if we get rail, we won't be operating it well either.

SA Traffic Jam Future
You got to love the doom and gloom predictions that Linda Alvarado-Vela along with Ray Lopez put out through the entire show on how 1.5 million more people are coming to San Antonio in the next 20 years and they all are going to drive. To be honest, I don't see that many people moving to San Antonio. I'll be surprises if 500,000 more comes to Bexar County. Let me tell you why their predictions are wrong.

• Young people today prefer transit to driving and with our transportation options limited to driving, young people will move to more transit friendlier communities.
• Driverless cars will be on the market in 5 years and Uber and Lyft are set to pink slip their current rank of drivers. They promise to make owning a new car not worth the effort.
• For the past 20 years, MPOs along with transportation departments have been saying that the growth of VMT will continue to grow forever have been proven wrong again and again.

There's No Money.
With all the solutions they put forward, they left out the fine print, no money for said projects. Adding a vehicle lane or managed lane to the freeway, building a light rail network, all cost hundreds of millions of dollars. Take into account for TxDOT lacking money for basic road maintenance, and you come to realize how screwed we are. You'll hear from the Toll party on how we have the money to fix the problems with congestion, telling you how this politician or that politician is stealing your future away by supporting toll roads. Or you can accept reality that the reason why the MPO and TxDOT were looking to toll roads as a solution was because they saw the budget shortfalls of today coming back at the turn of the century. It is because of the Toll Party efforts that we don't have light rail nor managed lanes on any of our freeways. To say they (our political leaders) are against driving leaves our a simple fact that they to drive cars and like you don't want to be stuck in traffic.

For the record, I do agree with the toll party on public/private partnerships, they tend to screw everyone for profit.

Alas not Least
The one thing that I have dedicated this blog for is the cheaper solution such as bicycle lanes and protected bicycle lanes. I'm also a big supporter of rail transit which isn't cheap and constantly inform people through this blog how it's better than buses. But at the same time, I don't misinform you about such realities of how said systems would work and won't be as advertised. But let's lay out the most obvious fact of all that is not mentioned anywhere, which is our congestion is a sign of our city being a successful place to live. Now before you accused me of wanting to be stuck in a traffic jam, I like you don't want to be stuck in one.

 I cannot help the fact that we live in a city where those in charge refuse to provide alternatives and only 3% of the population shows up to vote in city elections. Those 3% of people ate against bicycle lanes calling it graffiti. Since the majority of local citizens aren't showing up at the polls, we'll we deserve to be stuck behind the wheel.

San Antonio Removes Bicycle Lanes Again

67.1 

I'm starting to notice a frightening trend here in San Antonio. Bicycle lanes are being removed from parts of San Antonio. The two so far that I am aware of is the northbound lane on Broadway at Jones and the second one, not a bicycle lane, but a shoulder nonetheless on Fredricksburg Rd.

If you read my previous posts on improving Broadway, you would have seen my cross-section on that part of Broadway which I called it the 281 Section.  Today, the new development decided that we don't need a bicycle lane. (Image67.1) That on street parking is more important than providing a safe place for `people to ride their bicycles.

67.2 

I contacted several people and since I was talking off the record , I am unable to provide contact info. This is what I learned when I talked to these individuals. City Council had no way to stop the removal of the bike lane. San Antonio Transportation and Capital improvements are designing a pretty sign to tell you, the cyclist to go onto the sidewalk. I didn't get a chance to ask if SAPD will give us tickets if we go onto the sidewalk but I'm assuming no. If you happen to get a ticket for riding on the sidewalk, please contact me. The main thing that will make this lousy solution not work is that there will be no ADA ramp back into the bike lane that is already left. (Image 67.2)

If you want to complain at somebody, call the district 1 Councilman Robert C Trevino (Info at the bottom) and the private engineer firm (Image 67.3) that said that removing a bicycle lane was okay.  That's the only thing I can tell you what to do in protest.

67.4

The second is the new park at the intersection of Fredricksburg and De Chantle (Image 67.4). Where there was a shoulder to ride in safely, now a curb and a tiny sidewalk was built. For the record, they only removed the northbound shoulder. Instead of leaving well enough alone, they decided that the space surrounding the left turning vehicles needed extra protection, so they created these painted barriers directing traffic around the center turn lane. (Image67.5) I find it ironic that if you go up just one block to Williamsburg, (Image67.6) you'll see the original paint pattern, and there seems to be no need to remove a shoulder to protect left turning cars. 

67.5

67.6

67.7

As Halloween rolled around I came across this picture tweet from David Killmon.  He wanted to dress up in the most frightening costume he could think of, so he dressed up as a construction sign saying the bicycle lane is closed. (Image67.7) I have a saying that goes, it takes a dead person to put in a traffic light and a crosswalk.  I can only hope that it doesn't take a tragedy  to fix this mistake.

District 1 Robert C Trevino
City Hall
P.O. Box 839966
San Antonio, TX 78283
Office Line: 210.207.7279
Constituent Office
1310 Vance Jackson
San Antonio, TX 78201
Field Office Line: 210.207.0900

Images:
67.1: Viewing South on Broadway showing newly constructed parking where a bicycle lane use to be.
67.2:  Showing the end of the sidewalk construction where no ADA ramp was installed. 
67.3:  The Engineer Consulting firm info advertising their destructive work.
67.4:  Viewing North on Fredricksburg Rd showing the Shoulder disappearing.
67.5:   Viewing north on Fredricksburg Rd Showing added painted lines around the center turn lane at De Chantel.
67.6:  Viewing north on Fredricksburg Rd Showing the intersection at Williansburg.
67.7:  Tweet from @kohidave with him wearing his Halloween Costume. Link to tweet: https://twitter.com/kohidave/status/792946517443092480

Commuter Rail is Dead, Long Live Commuter Rail

A saying I read in a forgotten book which had a passage that said, "the king is dead, long live the king."  and if you been following the Austin/San Antonio Commuter Rail also known as the Lone Star Rail District this past year, my title fits perfectly.

57.1

Back in February 2016, Union Pacific Railroad decided to walk away from negotiation with the Lone Star Rail District. And since then, story after news story since then always had a headline saying how the project is not dead. They're several source at the end of this post.

On August 17, 2016, CAMPO (Capitol Area Metropolitan Planning Organization) board voted 17 to one against the commuter rail. But even then our local KSAT news had the biggest backer of the Commuter Rail, Joe Krier of district 9 pleading to keep the project alive. And to top it off, as I was starting to write this at the beginning of September, the Lone Star Rail District website had a list of CAMPO long range planning meetings urging people to tell CAMPO to keep the project in the long range plans. (image 57.2)

57.2

What most people don't understand, and that includes the backers, that if you want to have the commuter rail, maybe you should ditch the train and get buses running in it's place instead for the only way we're getting a commuter rail if our representatives make a federal or state law stating that Union Pacific will either provide the track or the service and that's not gonna happen ever. Cities like Atlanta, and states like New Jersey already offer intercity commuter bus services using Greyhound like buses. Houston's Metro (image 57.4) already use these type of buses for their express routes.

Now there was a time when San Antonio had such a service using buses and not that long ago. The reason why you never heard about this service is because VIA and CapMetro didn't allow these buses to use their existing bus stops and transit centers and fail to provide links to these services on their websites. There was limited bus service provided by Texas State University between San Antonio and Austin. The Alamo Area Council of Governments offered shuttle service from Palo Alto College to Poteet, Pleasanton, and Jourdation. And today in Austin the  Capital Area Council of governments provides shuttle service from several communities including San Marcos.

57.3

Texas State University use to have intercity bus service called the Bobcat Tram Interurban that between Randolph Park-n-ride, to the University with limited number of stops in New Braunfels, Kyle and Buda. Between 2007 to 2013,  you probably saw a brown bus parked across the street from Randolph Park-n-ride for VIA never allowed it to stop inside their facility. I only used the service three times. A trip to Austin cost $12 and the bicycle rack could hold three bicycles. I decided to buy a multi-ride card (image 57.3) for $40 at the time. In August, 2013, the service was canceled. When the service was canceled in August of 2013, I heard only crickets from the backers of Lone Star Rail District.

It is also worth noting that Greyhound barely provides services to San Marcos. Before Megabus took up residence at 4th and Broadway, Greyhound had several buses stopping there. Today there's only two trips available.

The service that ran from Palo Alto college to Jourdation was provided by the Alamo Regional Transit or ART. Now I don't remember when this bus was running and I never heard of it being canceled. I only found out about it when I went to use the restroom when I was out there. I never used the service because they never did have a bicycle rack on the bus. Today ART provides paratransit services to counties that are apart of the Alamo area Council of Governments.

The intercity shuttle service provided by CARTs (Capitol Area Regional Transit) run several small buses from their transit center in East Austin to several towns including San Marcos and they only run during rush hour. Also like ART, CARTs provide paratransit service to the members of the Capitol Area council of Governments.

57.4

Yes the rail would have been better than a bus, but let's face reality. Dwelling on this project is a waste of time and money. Unless laws are made from Washington DC or maybe Austin forcing Union Pacific to provide this service or the track, this dream will never be. Joe Krier with all his good intentions is simply beating a dead horse. Hey Joe, the horse is dead, long live the horse. It's time to start providing buses instead of waiting on a train in ten years that will never be.

Images:
57.1 Trinity Railway Express arriving at Victory Station in Dallas, TX
57.2 A Screenshot from http://www.lonestarrail.com/ in Sept 2016
57.3 A picture of a sample 10 ride ticket for the Bobcat Interurban bus.
57.4 A Metro Commuter Express Bus on I-69 in Houston, TX

Sources:

Despite setbacks, Lone Star Rail Project still on the table
http://kxan.com/2016/04/15/new-development-for-central-texas-commuter-rail/

Rail line from SA to Austin may be up for discussion again soon 
http://www.ksat.com/news/rail-line-from-sa-to-austin-may-be-up-for-discussion-again-soon

How Austin-San Antonio commuter rail backers plan to get back on track 
http://www.bizjournals.com/austin/news/2016/04/15/how-austin-san-antonio-commuter-rail-backers-plan.html

Officials: Commuter rail project still on track in Central Texas
https://communityimpact.com/austin/san-marcos-buda-kyle/city-county/2016/03/16/officials-commuter-rail-project-still-track-central-texas/

Officials: Commuter rail project still on track in Central Texas
https://communityimpact.com/austin/san-marcos-buda-kyle/city-county/2016/03/16/officials-commuter-rail-project-still-track-central-texas/

Lone Star Rail District Pitches Four Alternatives to Dead Union Pacific Proposal 
http://www.sacurrent.com/the-daily/archives/2016/04/18/lone-star-rail-district-pitches-four-alternatives-to-dead-union-pacific-proposal

Future of San Antonio-Austin passenger rail could hinge on local planning group 
http://www.expressnews.com/news/local/article/Future-of-San-Antonio-Austin-passenger-rail-could-7379356.php

Derailed: Union Pacific puts brakes on Austin-San Antonio commuter rail
http://smmercury.com/2016/02/12/derailed-union-pacific-puts-brakes-on-austin-san-antonio-commuter-rail/

San Antonio To Austin Commuter Rail Not Dead Yet
http://tpr.org/post/san-antonio-austin-commuter-rail-not-dead-yet#stream/0

Lone Star Rail on life support after CAMPO vote
http://www.mystatesman.com/news/news/transportation/lone-star-rail-on-life-support-after-campo-vote/nsCRf/

Austin, San Antonio leaders urged to help resurrect Lone Star Rail
http://www.ksat.com/traffic/austin-sa-urged-to-help-resurrect-lone-star-rail

Sources that came out after I wrote this:

Workable rail plan essential for our plan
http://www.mysanantonio.com/opinion/editorials/article/Workable-rail-plan-essential-for-our-plan-9228331.php

Loss of commuter rail key focus of Austin-San Antonio Growth Summit
http://www.bizjournals.com/austin/news/2016/09/16/loss-of-commuter-rail-key-focus-of-austin-san.html

RIP Lone Star Rail
http://www.mysanantonio.com/opinion/columnists/josh_brodesky/article/RIP-Lone-Star-Rail-9225837.php

A Tale of Two Protected Bike Lanes

56.1

I believe that you all have seen my meme (image 56-1) that I posted on social media showing the difference between Chicago bicycle signal light and San Antonio bicycle signal light. Now people will likely point out that is in Chicago, not Texas. Yes complete different states and cities and I completely agree. But what if I were to say that Houston bicycle signal light is also green while the motor vehicle green is also green?

56.2

I was recently had some time off in Houston, and while I was there I went to ride their famous protected bicycle lane on Lamar St. (Image 56-2) There I saw an original 12 ft motor vehicle lane turned into a protected bicycle lane. Now Houston stared construction of this protected bicycle back in February 2015.   It runs from Discovery Green to Sam Houston Park. Occasionally, I did see a car occupy the lane, but it immediately moved out of it. I also encountered a cab using the lane, but that cab driver also immediately vacated the lane after I blocked his path just like the stories from Brazil and Beijing.

If you want to know about San Antonio protected bicycle lanes, please click below to the post I wrote a while back.

Everything Wrong with The Convention Center Cycletrack

 The Latest Useless Bike Lane

56.3

When you put the two bicycle lanes side by side, (image 56.3) you notice many differences and not to San Antonio advantage. For one thing, the Lamar protected bicycle lane connects places and people use it. San Antonio on the other hand is placed out of the way so nobody is on it. Now that might change when more of Hemisfair gets opened up.  Also, the Lamar protected bicycle lane has its lanes marked out, San Antonio protected bicycle lane is less so. And the biggest thing of all, the bicycle signal light is timed so that it has a green signal for the bicycles, up to 10 seconds, with a red motor vehicle signal.(Image 56.4)

56.4

But here's the thing, comparing both bicycle lanes seems to me to be like comparing apples to oranges for the Lamar protected bicycle lane actually serves a function compared to San Antonio protected bicycle lanes which are basically "green smoke." If I were actually comparing apples to apples, I would be comparing a protected bicycle lane down Commerce or Market St to the Houston's Lamar St protected bicycle lane. Since we lack the political will to improve things I doubt that we'll ever see anything useful to improving the quality of life. Right now, we're focusing on useless ball park stadiums, complaining about useless sharrows and facing a growing city with a chance of getting federal funding cut off for transportation due to our bad air quality.

56.5

But before I go, there's some good news.  Apparently someone at TCI got the word about my meme and fixed one of the lights to where they are green when the car light is green.(Image 56.5)  However, it's for the set of lights parallel at E Commerce St.  Go check for yourself and never push the "beggars button."(Image 56.6)

56.6

Images:
56.1: The Meme I made that I posted on Twitter awhile back.  Check out @BikeSanAntonio's Tweet: https://twitter.com/BikeSanAntonio/status/722427338885980160?s=09

56.2: A bicycle commuter using the protected Bicycle lane on Lamar St in Houston, TX viewing west.

56.3: A side by side comparison showing the San Antonio Protected Bicycle Lane on the Left viewing South at Montana and Houston Protected Bicycle Lane on Lamar on the right viewing west.

56.4: Houston Protected Bicycle Lane showing how the Bicycle signal light is green up to 10 seconds before the motor vehicle signal light is green. Viewing West.

56.5: The current fix at Commerce and I-37 showing that the bicycle signal light is green along with the motor vehicle signal without pushing the beggars button to activate the bicycle signal.

56.6: a picture of the bicycle signal activation button that's at the corner of Market and I-37. In the field of pedestrian,  bicycle, and transit activists like myself, we refer to these buttons as "beggar buttobs"  because you have to essentially beg to cross the street or Stroad in safety.

Anatomy of a Bus Stop Sign

In my travels I have encounter a lot of bus stop signs and the more I see the many different designs, the more I'm grateful for the design of VIA's.

So what should be seen on a bus stop sign?  These are the 5 characteristics that every bus stop should have.

1. It should be recognized as a bus stop 
2. It should be seen from both sides. 
3. It should have the routes listed.   
4. It should have a serial number. 
5. It should have the times when the bus comes.

It is these 5 things that make a great bus stop sign. But sadly, most systems fail to have at least 2, and more just have a lousy sign.  On this page name the Transit System Bus Stops, you'll find a list of all the bus stop signs that I have encountered and my rating for those system bus stops.

1. It should be recognized as a bus stop.
Bus stops come in many designs, the most common features a figure of a bus on the sign. Others have the logo of the transit system. But anyone who's walking along the street should look up at the sign and realize that a bus stops at this location. (Image 55.1)

55-1

2. It should be seen from both sides.
This should be a given and it is in San Antonio, that you're able to walk down a street and look at the other side and see that there's a bus stop.  But sadly in other cities, this is not the case.  If you're walking down the street in another city, you come up to a blank grey sign, a tragic part of using public transit. Look at the picture below and tell me if you can see the bus stop. (Image 55.2)

55-2

3. It should have the routes listed. 
(Image 55.3) Now you would think that this would be a given, but no. At most, you just have a sign that indicates that a bus stops here, and no more. Other systems like VIA in San Antonio always have the number of what bus route stops at a particular stop. Having this simple indication goes along way with easing people's fears.  It also helps when having Skip Stop Buses, buses that serve the same street as another route, but bypasses several stops to have faster service. 

55-3

4. It should have a serial number.  
Again, every bus stop sign in San Antonio has a five digit number on the bottom of the bus stop. (Image 5.4)  It's like a bar code that list a particular stop telling what bus routes stop at that stop and the location it is at.  Other cities do have a serial number for a bus stop, but it is listed on the app and not the bus stop sign.  Houston is going this way, but it will be a while until we see it listed on all the bus stop signs.  But having every stop with a unique serial number can backfire. At the many transit centers in San Antonio, VIA has a different serial number for each bus stop sign at their transit centers.  At Randolph Park And Ride, the 550 will have bus stop number 59883 while the 21 will have 59886.  It makes it hard when using the VIA's 52020 text feature or trying to find the exact bus stop on google maps.  I hope the people at VIA reading this will fix this problem so we all can text to 52020 with one bus stop number for Randolph and get all the routes and when they're schedule to arrive and depart.  

55-4

5. It should have the times listed when the bus comes.
Sadly, a lot of systems fail to do this.  Whether it's because of money, or they just haven't figure out how to do it, all bus stop signs should have the schedule listed of the bus route that stops there.  In my travels, I've seen many examples, but they fail to solve the problem of putting the schedule on all the stops. In Charlotte, North Carolina, on the CATS System seem to have solved this dilemma.  Although all the bus stops fail to have a serial number, (Image 55.6) they all however have the times listed on the pole of when the bus is coming.(Image 5.5)

55.5

55.6

So for my home transit system in San Antonio, TX, you do a great job and I hope that those who are reading this will try to improve our bus stop signs and the way they are cataloged.  For everyone else, I hope you use these standards and improve your bus stop signs so you can bring your system into the 21st century.

Images:
55.1:  Fort Smith Transit Bus Stop. http://www.fortsmithar.gov/transit/default.aspx
55.2:  Fort Smith Transit Bus Stop as seen from across the street.
55.3:  Houston Metro Bus Stop. http://www.ridemetro.org/Pages/index.aspx
55.4:  VIA Metropolitan Transit Bus Stop. http://viainfo.net/Ride/Default.aspx
55.5:  A time Strip seen on the side of a CATS bus stop pole
55.6:  CATS: Charlotte Area Transit System. http://charmeck.org/city/charlotte/cats/Pages/default.aspx